FG/1/2

FG/1/2

File

The Register of St Osmund, 13th century

Vetus Registrum Ecclesie Sarum

13th century

1 volume

Known as the Register of St Osmund not because it was compiled by Osmund but because it contains the statutes, rules and customs made or enjoined by him to be observed in the Cathedral and Diocese of Sarum. It is almost entirely concerned with the Cathedral and its Chapter. The volume itself is labelled ‘Vetus Registrum’ or ‘The Old Register’. The volume can be approximately divided into seven distinct sections: (1) The Consuetudinary, a book containing the forms and ceremonies used in the service of a particular cathedral, pp 1-37. (2) Copies of charters re the see of Sarum, the property of the Dean and Chapter, the estates belonging to those who hold prebends and the various privileges bestowed on them, inc. the foundation charter of the cathedral, pp 38-72. (3) Record of a visitation of prebendal churches and estates by the Dean, in pursuance of a statute passed in 1214, circa 1220-1226, pp73-88. (4) Section of documents, chiefly legal, bearing upon the various prebends belonging to the Cathedral and having reference to transactions, mostly during the episcopate of Bishop Richard Poore. (5) Accounts of the removal of the Cathedral from Old to New Sarum and of the organisation of the Cathedral body - written by Dean William de Wanda, or at his dictation. Wanda’s narrative is the principal source for the narrative of the move from Old to New Sarum. pp119-124, 133-166. (6) Detailed statement of the election and appointment of Robert Bingham as the successor of Bishop Richard Poore with a number of papal bulls relating to the see of Sarum. (7) Contemporary list of the various treasures belonging to the Cathedral at the beginning of the thirteenth century. Pages 95-110 contains copies of charters 1125-1222 relating to the prebendal church of Heytesbury followed, p.103, by other charters relating to Mere, Wokingham, Teynton and elsewhere and extracts relating to the privileges of Abingdon Abbey 1224.

Latin

Material: parchment Binding: Rebound in 1896. The original bindings survive and are listed separately as FG/1/3. Binding: Notes: Inscription inside the front cover reads as follow: '…being in a dilapidated condition was mended and rebound by Mr Stoakley of Cambridge under the direction of Mr J Jenkinson the Universiry Librarian. The old vellum cover when spread out was found to be too large to bind in the present volume and to contain an inner padding covered with an old list of charters which would have been spoiled by cutting. These therefore are put together in a thin volume by themselves'. Inscription is dated Jan 1896. Note that the original bindings were not 'put together in a thin volume by themselves' but were retained untouched (see FG/1/3).